José L. Hueso

Reforming of ethanol in a microwave surface-wave plasma discharge

Hydrogen production through plasma reforming of ethanol at room temperature and moderate pressure has been carried out in a microwave surface-wave reactor. Both pure ethanol and mixtures ethanol-water have been studied. The reforming yield was almost 100% in all conditions with H2, solid carbon, CO and CO2 as the main reaction products. In the mixture ethanol-water the formation of solid C was avoided. The optical emission spectroscopy analysis has shown that the formation of the excited species CO*, CH* and C2* depends on the plasma mixture. The temperature of the OH* species was determined by analyzing the shape profile of its emission band.

Evaluation of different dielectric barrier discharge plasma configurations as an alternative technology for green C1 chemistry in the carbon dioxide reforming of methane and the direct decomposition of methanol.

Carbon dioxide reforming of methane and direct decomposition of methanol have been investigated using dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) at atmospheric pressure and reduced working temperatures. Two different plasma reactor configurations are compared and special attention is paid to the influence of the surface roughness of the electrodes on the conversion yields in the first plasma device. The influence of different filling gap dielectric materials (i.e., Al(2)O(3) or BaTiO(3)) in the second packed configuration has been also evaluated. Depending on the experimental conditions of applied voltage, residence time of reactants, feed ratios, or reactor configuration, different conversion yields are achieved ranging from 20 to 80% in the case of methane and 7-45% for the carbon dioxide. The direct decomposition of methanol reaches 60-100% under similar experimental conditions. Interestingly, the selectivity toward the production of hydrogen and carbon monoxide is kept almost constant under all the experimental conditions, and the formation of longer hydrocarbon chains or coke as a byproduct is not detected. The maximum efficiency yields are observed for the packed-bed reactor configuration containing alumina for both reaction processes (approximately 1 mol H(2) per kilowatt hour for dry reforming of methane and approximately 4.5 mol H(2) per kilowatt hour for direct decomposition of methanol).

Ar + NO microwave plasmas for Escherichia coli sterilization

Ar + NO microwave discharges are used for sterilization and the results are compared with additional experiments with Ar, O2 and N2–O2 plasma mixtures. The NO* species produced in the Ar–NO mixtures remain up to long distances from the source, thus improving the sterilization efficiency of the process. E. coli individuals exposed to the Ar + NO plasma undergo morphological damage and cell lysis. Combined effects of etching (by O* and Ar* species) and UV radiation (from deactivation of NO* species) are responsible for the higher activity found for this plasma mixture.

Optical Emission Spectroscopic Evaluation of Different Microwave Plasma Discharges and Its Potential Application for Sterilization Processes

The present work aims at studying different microwave flowing discharges containing Ar and/or NO as alternative candidates to more extended N2 containing plasma mixtures like N2-O2. Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) is used to demonstrate the potential possibilities of these plasma mixtures to provide O* and UV intermediate species demanded for sterilization purposes at low temperatures and extended discharge gaps. Additionally, some plasma sterilization experiments with Escherichia coli cultures are presented.